Greenwich Arts Council Opens New Exhibition

arts-council-put-on-your-face-exhibit

The Greenwich Arts Council presents “Put on Your Face and Hand Me Down,” a group exhibition that addresses issues of gender, identity, history and the notion of public and private self-image, through the re-purposing of textiles and art. All the artists presented use their own medium to explore the responsiveness of the viewer who, in turn, projects their own interpretation onto the art.

Curated by local educator and artist, Ben Quesnel, this exhibition will run from Oct. 24 to Nov. 21. The opening event on Thursday, Oct. 24 will feature a live demonstration by celebrity makeup artist Tyler Green, of SYFY’s Face-Off!, live music by Nine of Hearts, cocktails and gourmet hors d’oeuvres by chef and “Chopped” champion and Maitre Cuisinier de France, Jean-Louis Gerin of the New England Culinary Institute. The evening will introduce an annual program for the Greenwich Arts Council, with art and community-based events.

Artists whose work will be exhibited in the show include: Zeren Badar, Michael Chang, Neil Daigl- Orians, Sonia Delaunay, Alexandra Grau, Jelia Gueramian, Aaron Johnson, Trevon Latin, Motomichi Nakamura, Rebecca Ness, Rose Nestler and Juliana Stankiewicz.

The Greenwich Arts Council – Bendheim Gallery is located at 299 Greenwich Ave. There Opening Night on Oct. 24 takes place from 6 to 9 p.m.

For more information, contact Tatiana Mori, Executive Director at tatianam@greenwicharts.org or 203-862-6754.

Jelia Gueramian’s 3-dimensional crocheted work creates a fantastical alternative universe. The traditional process of the craft evokes complex familial memories. Its integration into the fabric of the spaces that it inhabits, implies encroachment. Her work transcends cultures, playing with scale, color and boundaries. In “Quilt for my Dad” Taiwanese-Brooklyn artist Michael Chang continues the theme of family, with his installation of used clothing, handstitched into a new form, to evoke a very personal portrayal of heritage, memory and patriarchal issues. The physical act of cutting, sewing, erasing and adding culminates in a new creation, while referencing the past through its quilt connotations.

Brooklyn-based Rose Nestler works in a similar manner, though creating a stylistically more polished end-product. Tailoring soft, silky fabric to mimic a stone-like petrification, her clawed, “Backward and in High Heels”, comments on the impractical and restraining nature of conforming to stereotypical gender roles in the workplace, and the accompanying power play. Referencing #MeToo, the strategic amplification and misplacement of body parts in her “Another Set of Hands” and “It Comes Naturally” is intentionally ironic.

Embellishing existing garments, Connecticut-based Neil Daigle-Orians inverts fashion in his “Heart on My Sleeve” series, in which inner emotions are portrayed externally. Instead of acting as a mask, his clothing publicly tests reactions of viewers, by outwardly portraying personal social and psychological anxieties, traditionally held in the private domain. In this post-modern age of Instagram and Facebook where textile and fashion is commonly used to “fit in”, “Put on Your Face and Hand Me Down” highlights issues associated with the masking of inner emotions and denial of cultural heritage. By challenging biased environments these exhibiting artists attempt to create a new paradigm to restore the value of individual and collective memory, history and identity.

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